Work Perks

I work for one of the largest private employers in the state of Oregon, and with this job comes some great benefits. Deals on cell phones, gym memberships, discounts for local businesses and my favorite — a free all-zone adult public transportation pass. To buy this privately, (as many people do) would set me back a whopping $946!

That is one mighty fine work perk.

Although I’ve been in the same job for 14 years, I have enjoyed employment by many different companies throughout the years. I’ve worked everything from retail in Idaho, shoe sales in London, (note to self — DON’T ask customers if they’re planning on wearing their shoes with a skirt or “pants.”) cinemas and restaurants in Portland, Oregon and even as an elf at Macy’s in Herald Square, New York.

Yeah, I moved a lot.

The jobs varied from interesting to tedious, poorly paid to semi-poorly paid. But they all had one thing in common — work perks.

Working retail meant an employee discount on merchandise, which could be quite sizable, other jobs provided handy perks as well:

The variety store in Ketchum, Idaho gave a “cost plus 10%” discount, which sometimes translated to 90% off. Got my holiday shopping done early that year!

The shoe store in London not only offered a discount on shoes, (the amount of which I’ve forgotten) but customers would occasionally purchase new shoes and leave the old ones in the store. As gross as this may sound, I got a new looking pair of super cool shoes this way, which I held onto for at least ten years.

Work in restaurants always provided free food and drinks, and working at a movie theater meant I was able to see free movies at all the theaters in town for myself and a guest. This last job was during my senior year of high school, and my best friend and I took great advantage of the viewing opportunities, often seeing multiple movies in a single day!

Oddly, the stint as a Christmas elf at Macy’s was one of the worst employee discounts, as it was for only 15% off products that could be worn on the body. (clothing, jewelry, make-up, etc.) Although, Wearing a head-to-toe sparkly elf costume meant I didn’t have to dress professionally, which I considered to be a huge plus. Not to mention, it was simply a lot of fun!

My current job as a labor and delivery nurse also provides my work wardrobe, (although there is certainly less bling than your average elf costume) which has probably saved me thousands of dollars through the years. Some nurses on other floors have to provide their own scrubs, but ours are provided by the hospital as we circulate through the operating rooms and need to have certifiably clean outfits. Infection control and all.

These work perks can be a huge part not only in making a job worthwhile, but in employee retention. My friend’s husband works in management at AT&T, and got free box seat tickets to take their daughter and her friends to see a Miley Cyrus concert last night. (This probably won him the daddy-of-the-year award at his house!)

The main work perk that attracts employees and then keeps them in place are health care benefits. How many of us have stayed in a job simply because we needed the benefits? Or even left a job we loved because it didn’t provide those essential health care benefits?

Have you ever taken a job because it came with fabulous work perks? Was it an employee discount on merchandise or comprehensive health care coverage? What was your favorite work perk you’ve ever had? Please share your stories in the comments section below.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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My favorite work perk is the main one: I telecommute (as I’ve done for the past 33 years) for a small NYC-based publishing company. This cascades into a bunch of other savings: No formal work wardrobe (I do get dressed for the day, but I could do this in PJs if I wanted to); no commuting expenses; no work lunch expenses; etc., etc. (Child care has always been a moot point, as I don’t have any children, by both choice and chance.)

Plus I have the finest employers on the planet. After all these years, it’s a relationship based on trust: I trust they’re going to send a paycheck every other week, and they trust I’m not sitting on my derriere watching soap operas!

Like A. Marie, I telecommute, and have done for 24 years. Occasionally I have to actually drive to campus to attend a meeting, but mostly I can set my own hours and work in my nightgown if I want to. The best perk is not having to buy much gas or drive a crushing commute like so many in the Bay Area.

I once worked as a pantry chef for an upscale restaurant. The only perk was free food, but I suppose with the menu prices, this was a pretty good value.

My daughter had 2 great jobs as a teen that the whole family benefitted from: working at a movie theatre (free tickets for us, to any movie chain in the area), and Trader Joe’s: employees get a 10 per cent discount on anything they sell. We loved it, and she really contributed to our budget this way.

Karen, your pastry chef job jarred loose my 45-year-old memories of working as a dishwasher during my college years in Florida, at an upscale restaurant just a few steps off campus. The food the restaurant owners served us for our own dinner was dreck. But I learned very soon to bring a plastic bag to work, because the largely elderly clientele would often send back their dinners untouched or nearly so. Prime rib and chicken a la Maryland (although I’m not sure Maryland would have recognized it) were my favorites. I ate very well during that period! (Yeah, OK, germs and whatever. But I’m still here to tell the tale.)

I worked as a busser in a family owned restaurant during high school, and they didn’t provide any food at all! But I learned skills about carrying a lot of food at once that have served me as a parent.

My favorite work-perk ever, for any job that I or my husband has had, is, hands down, his Company Car. We refer to it as Free Gas Car and we drive it everywhere for personal use on nights and weekends. The only drawbacks are that my 16 year-old daughter can’t drive it and if we take the dogs with us in the car is not allowed to have pets in it (company policy). Other than that, Free Car!

I want to retire in three years’ time, as I’m retraining as a psychotherapist (autocorrect just offered “psychopath” as its first alternative. Charming.). I’m staying in my current job till then because of the final salary pension scheme. It’s a blessing and a millstone: I would move into full-time practice as a therapist sooner, but I’d lose too much money. And I’m too scared/prudent to hurl myself off a cliff. For which I slightly despise myself…

Bummer that you slightly despise yourself for this decision but I greatly admire you for it. It takes great courage to stick with the plan and not wimp out just because you could, then potentially pay a huge price later. Revel in your strength!

I am not a huge risk taker either, but I think your plan is sound. You’ve vested a lot of years to get that perk so with 3 years to go, why walk away from something that will really change your retirement?

I have been telecommuting for 13 years which has similarly held me in my job. There have been times when I’ve considered doing something else, but I’m well paid and the convenience and flexibility has been a blessing to my family as my children were growing up. My youngest is in 8th grade now, and I am looking to make the leap back to the office once again. We all make trade-offs for the long term good.

My husband is a pilot for a major airline (hint: LUV) and we get the best perk of all from his job – free flights! We (and his parents) can all fly for free on the airline as much as we want (although it is standby). He also earns points for attendance that we can redeem for many things (gift cards, merchandise, frequent flyer points, etc.), but we typically redeem them for guest passes that allow our other family members to occasionally fly for free as well (also standby). We’re also able to fly standby on other airlines for ~90% off.

I also love that his company offers generous wellness rewards for completing tasks each year and contribute to our HSA account annually. Plus, the 401k match, profit sharing, etc.

They also send very sweet gifts when you have a new baby (for our kids, we received a cute little blue baseball and catcher’s mitt (baby size), an airplane onesie, and some other things I can’t remember.

They do so many wonderful things for their employees and the communities they serve, it’s hard to remember them all!

Oh, we also get discounts on many things through his employee status, such as 20% off our cell phone plan, car rental discounts, and so many other discounts to other stores as well (Sherwin Williams, FedEx shipping, etc.).

Oh, I always wanted to work for them once I retired! Now that I’m FIRE, I just can’t bring myself to even think about going to work again, even for free flights, not to mention hotel and car discounts. It was a good dream for many years, and I still feel a pang when I board one of their smiling planes. I always figured I’d be a shoe-in if I could get an interview. I worked at Nordstrom for decade and won several Sales and Customer Service Awards and I was the halftime announcer at football games in High School. Irresistible combination, no?

Anyway, good to know from an insider that they’re as “luvly” as their reputation.

I used to work at a the largest specialty retailer in the US and we received a 50% off discount on all product, but I found that I actually would buy a lot of stuff just because it was 50% off, so overall, was probably not saving me as much money as it should have. Other great perks that we got were discounted museum passes at various places throughout the city. One thing I wish I took more advantage of was the free counseling sessions. They had a service that you could access 6 free counseling session over the phone. could be about retirement, life stuff, or anything. Super useful for all those moments in life. The other best perk was disability insurance. Yes there is the state disability, but we could buy into extra insurance that would insure against a higher amount, so if you are disabled then you receive more of your paycheck. This was super useful for my two maternity leaves as well as when I was hospitalized unexpectedly for pneumonia. Totally worth the extra $6 per paycheck.

My two biggest work perks are definitely 1) Health care covered 100% (grandfathered employee FTW) and 2) Using my own credit card for work expenses and then being reimbursed. This is cyclical, but we’ve gotten enough points this way to fully cover airplane flights with miles.

I actually have two: (1) retirement with vesting which means if you work 10 years, at age 60 you will draw a check for life, and (2) insurance. I pay $30 for my insurance a month…Blue Cross, Blue Shield, with a $35 copay at the doctor.

I should add how much retirement you will receive depends on how many years you work, and your salary over the years. You do have to first work 10 years to vest. It is not that much, but every little bit helps.

I teach filmmaking and have access to a state of the art movie theater that I can use pretty much anytime I want. I didn’t take the job because of it, but I have specifically not quite several times because of it.

I also lost my business when I was pretty young and took a waitressing job because I knew I would at least be eating.

One of my favorite work perks was the leftover comp tickets for local shows and events that were generally reserved for favorite clientele. This was when I was a classified advertisement sales person for a local nightlife weekly publication. I am glad I was younger and full of a lot more energy back then! One of my favorites was being able to fill an entire row of seats for a Moody Blues concert, and countless others.

I’m a school lunch lady for a county-wide school district. My personal #1 perk is that I get a free lunch when I work. Many of the ladies I work with unashamedly admit that they work for the insurance. The other major perk is considered to be the work hours, as they get home before their kids and have the breaks off with their kids.

I work for a Children’s Hospital in Seattle (hmmm i wonder which one? ;-)). The greatest work perk we have is that if my son is ever a patient we receive 50% off the balance after insurances pays out their portion. Since my son was already a patient almost 4 years ago (before i worked there, doh!), the piece of mind this provides is great. Anyone who’s had a kiddo in the hospital knows that even with good insurance the remaining balance can be staggering. Also, my son is included on our insurance for free! Kudos to our leadership for these perks!

– Large Public University offered 2-for-1 matching on our retirement account contributions: for every dollar we put into our 401(a)/403(b) accounts, they put in two. The U also had generous paid time off from Day One of employment.

– Non-Profit Social Service Agency had an employee assistance program which included free short-term counseling. I had a major personal crisis during my time there, and the counseling was a sanity saver.

– Small Private College maintained a nature center and trails on the far side of campus. That job made for a looong commute for me (almost an hour each way of driving), so I spent every possible lunch hour getting outdoors and walking those trails. I also had borrowing privileges at both the college library and the public library in town.

– Self-Employment (my gig for the last decade+) offers extreme schedule flexibility, which is one of the best benefits I’ve ever had. My goal is to stay self-employed until retirement — I love setting my own schedule THAT much.

Currently, my favorite work perks are the employer-subsidized health, dental and vision insurance plans. I feel lucky to have all this insurance since I only work part-time. When I was young, I had a job in a cafeteria followed by a job in a restaurant. Both jobs meant a free dinner every night I worked. Only problem was I had to eat dinner at 4 pm!

I worked in radio for a number of years and they do a considerable amount of “trade” with advertisers, goods & services for air-time. We enjoyed tons of concert tickets, free meals at local restaurants, gym memberships, but the best perk for me was a set of new tires for my car and car repairs. Sadly, they didn’t offer a decent salary or healthcare, so I left.

1. A company car, authorized for personal use. The catch was that you could only gas up in your territory. I had a huge territory, so I’d gas up on Friday, go somewhere and gas up again when I returned. Totally okay. They paid for all maintenance – anything at all related to the vehicle, including insurance.

2. A four-month job assignment in San Francisco (I lived in L.A.). I convinced them to let me rent a house (long before airbnb existed) instead of paying for a hotel. They agreed, but wouldn’t pay a deposit. I persuaded them to pay all the rent up front, which the homeowner (who was going to Europe) accepted. I also got to fly home whenever I wanted. Nope. I invited all my friends and family to come stay in the beautiful SF Victorian I was living in. Full kitchen meant I cooked at “home” and banked most of the per diem. Oh yes, the house had a washer and dryer, and a garage for my “borrowed” company car, while my other company car stayed in my garage in L.A. so I could use it on weekends if I went home. For four months, I never cashed a paycheck. When HR called to grouch at me, I dumped all of the money into savings. Probably my best financial hack ever.

3. Um, Nordstrom. For most of my time there, I was either a Pacesetter or a Manager, so I got a 33% discount every day. The discount applied on sale prices, too. My best tactic was to wait until stuff was 50% off and then get another 33%. However, I saved every receipt for ten years. When I left there, I reviewed them all. I was shocked at how much it added up to. OTOH, we were expected to dress professionally, so some spending was necessary. To avoid also having to look “stylish”, I worked in the Men’s Area, where professional trumped stylish. I also didn’t have to buy any clothes for a very long time after I left there. I still have a couple of cashmere blazers in the attic. Sigh, I just never wear blazers any more.

4. Went back into outside sales in the flooring industry. Company car again! Big discounts on flooring! Happily, I needed a lot less flooring than I needed clothing in my Nordstrom years, so less money spent, more long-term value received.

5.I got married very late in life and retired, but DH still works. His best perks are a Defined Benefit Retirement Plan and F-R-E-E Healthcare! Yup, no monthly payment, no deductible and minuscule co-pays. DH had minor surgery right after we got married and his total OOP was $15.00!

I’ve had many jobs but three standouts in the perks department: one of the villages I worked in included our apartment’s water (18 cents a gallon, delivered) as a perk. Alaska Airlines, which offered great travel benefits. And, the unbelievable perk of premium nsurance that, because I was vested after five years, when I turned 50 I got for free and, through me, my husband did also. Once I get on medicare it becomes my secondary insurance but still pays 100% on my medications if I use their mail order system. This perk is no longer available. It came about because when the trans-Alaska pipeline was being built, the wages were so amazing that some state agencies and private businesses lost all of their employees in one day—if the unions were offering a lot of jobs that day, and you had had the forethought to join a certain union, you could get a job that day and be flown up north to a pipeline camp that night. (There were actually cases of both parents taking a job up north, leaving their kids to fend for themselves in an apartment and living on money Mom and Dad sent them…) The state and various municipalities could not retain workers because they could not possibly afford the wages construction firms were offering, so they designed benefit packages that allowed them to be somewhat competitive as no construction companies offered grunts long term health packages and the unions didn’t have such great packages either. As the pipeline ended and the state realized how much the benefits were going to cost them in the long run, they reduced benefits for later hires. (And now most Alaskans forget that the platinum packages were what kept cops and teachers and social workers and public health nurses from running off and leaving the town without adequate staffing in those professions) But I was young and oblivious when I took my job and only years later realized that a decision I made at 18 to stay and work in town rather than go north would give me the ability to retire at 50 without worrying about health insurance.

My current job has a well-run 401(k) and great opportunities for job-related training.

My fave perk was when I worked part-time for a caterer: food. So much great food to take home, if you worked till the end of the night. One night in November, I got not only food, but dozens of gallons of food waste for my compost pile – I took home all the pumpkins that the soup was served in.

Same caterer: coat check tips. December is a hard time for caterers because there’s such competition for decent staff that all caterers are scraping the bottom of the barrel. I was often was assigned to coat check because I could keep the tag system straight and I’d redistribute the tips rather than pocketing them. But in December, so many staff wouldn’t return to get the tips, that I made out like a bandit.

I think all the ones we have are covered by others, but we have four faves.

1. Husband is in sales and has a company car. We get charged a small amount for personal usage in are told to use it whenever and however we want. He’s had a company car for the last 8 years and it has been a huge saver to only have one car. He also travels quite a bit so the hotel points add up. We haven’t paid for a hotel in years and have taken two all-inclusive vacations paid with points also. We also appreciate his 9% 401k match and stock purchase match!
2. I work remotely. I have a professional salary, but get to work in my pajamas if I want. They pay for my phone and internet also and I have benefits and a 401k match, but working from home (and the four weeks vacation) is what keeps me at the job.
3. I was a caterer for 7 years, I never cooked, we just ate other people’s leftovers.

Unfortunately I’ve never had nice work perks. I’ve always seemed to work for really stingy companies. Hell, half of them didn’t even offer basic healthcare insurance, let alone phone plan discounts. I hope that employers will realize that, when you add perks, you can retain and attract the best talent. And that decreases operating costs!

When I worked retail they offered an employee discount of 10%.
Another per was when I worked for a moving company, I was able to “borrow” one of the trucks for my move, although I had to pay the moving crew for their time. Also, sometimes the moving crews were given unwanted items from customers to dispose of, and often they thought to offer them to me before they put the items in the dumpster (including a glass plate, iron curtain rod, and a blanket).

I think the only place I worked that gave me something for free or discounted was at a movie rental store, where we could bring movies home for free (and bring back after). I now work in a world renowned hospital which I won’t name – and they provide absolutely zero perks, not even paid if I have to take education like CPR. Consider yourself lucky! We have to pay for everything ; clothes, gym, education, etc. We used to have a Christmas lunch but now we have to pay for it, etc. Very little respect/consideration for their employees, just sayin’! (Noooooo, I’m not bitter at all…!)

I’m very lucky. I’ve worked for the same person for the last 14 years. He and his family treat me like family — literally, I go to family gatherings, Christmas, etc. He is a financial planner and does all my financial investing, planning, retirement — for free. And taught me how to do it as well. (I’m his assistant/client manager.) Amazingly valuable financial education that cannot be taken away from me.

I have free health insurance, and it’s good insurance. We have a profit sharing plan and a 401k plan, again, managed extremely well, for free. Last running 12 months my IRA averaged over 14% and my individual account was up over 12%. Mind you, the market is on an upswing, which doesn’t hurt, but the management committee of the firm is impeccable and highly experienced.

I also live 3 miles from where I work. Very short commute working with a very good team that wants everyone to succeed. We occasionally have our issues, but 99% of the time its a great job.

Having said all that we work — and we work hard! It’s busy and can be extremely stressful at times. When you are working with people’s life savings you do not get to say no and you must find a solution to every problem. Now. But I feel the same way about my money so I totally get it.

Like Mrs. Picky Pincher, I’ve worked for a lot of stingy companies. Just out of a high school, I worked for a burger joint that gave us one free meal for working a full 8-10 hour shift. After that, it was for small newspapers that had a holiday meal at Christmas, but charged the employees for it.

For the past several years, I worked at a public radio station owned by a university, and the perks were less than zero. Parking was $500 a year! The health insurance was good but helluva lot expensive. Salary was something of a joke because it was supposed to be offset by all the great perks. *sarcasm*

I just recently took a job at a non-profit that gives the employees a free parking pass (worth $300 a year) and the same insurance I used to have for $25 a month, along with free coffee and a discount at the surrounding businesses.

My husband and I spent most of our lives working for ourselves, for low paying public interest jobs or struggling non-profits with no discernible monetary benefits. However, we both lucked out and did work for the government for part of our careers which provided us with defined benefit pensions which have been very helpful. One other thing – as an employer my husband has always provided his staff with public transportation passes as described by Katy. We were very surprised to find out that this benefit (which benefits the employer in the form of a tax deduction plus a tax credit in our state) is rarely offered around here. This is a win-win!

My best work perk is free travel, hotels, food and happy hours. My job comes with low stress, remote work from home and 6-10 travel trips a year. These trips include fancy hotels I would never pay to stay at with my own dollar, meals I would never pay for out of my own pocket and oodles of accumulation of loyalty points that I can use for free trips for my family at more modest hotels where we get all the perks of being “platinum” members like free breakfasts, upgrades and free happy hours. These points also allow for my family to fly for 50% off total airfare. Next month I am taking my 2 teenagers with me on a five day trip to DC where all of their costs are free — thanks to my points. Add in that all of the DC museums are free, and breakfast is free all I will have to pay for is their lunch and dinner which I should be able to manage on my daily stipend. These perks have allowed me to justify being under employed in my job.

I’ve had some exciting work perks over the years, which is maybe why my current perks – ability to telecommute, company credit card to cover any travel expenses, pretty good retirement match – seem boring in comparison. But truthfully, watching that retirement fund and the stock fund (shares bought at discount once per quarter) keep growing should feel pretty exciting.

> In HS I worked at a delicious, snobby bakery that threw out everything that hadn’t sold at the end of the day. I closed up a couple of nights per week. My folks eventually bought an extra freezer to store all the goodies.
> In college I occasionally helped a local caterer. Once we catered a wedding reception thrown by the happy couple’s parents and which included cases and cases of wine and champagne. Only . . . the couple had met in AA and all of their guests were similarly abstemious. The parents were furious and stormed out; the bride and groom sent all the booze home with me and another student. I think we were 19. We threw some raging (free!) parties the following semester.
> Worked in publishing in NYC decades ago when every show, movie, concert, etc. that came to town sent comp tickets out to the publishing houses. Those of us at the bottom of the food chain only got the ones nobody else wanted, but it still meant free entertainment 3-4 nights per week. Good thing, too, as we were paid barely enough to eat!
> Hubs works in public education and his medical / dental / vision benefits have always been excellent. With his recent move between districts he was able to roll over all of his accrued vacation and sick days. So he started a new, much higher paying job with about 100 days of accrued vacation – will come in useful as kids graduate, get married, etc. Plus if he doesn’t use it all, it will be paid out at retirement down the road at about $0.50 on the dollar. . . but the final dollar, not the rate he earned it.
> Oh, and one more: he worked briefly for a parochial school, during which time we had a kid. In general those health benefits were lower than the public schools . . . but they walked their talk on maternity care. Complicated pregnancy, return to the hospital after delivery with a sick baby and sick mom, lots of tests and checking because of my age and complications . . . and total out of pocket of $10. That was amazing.

This one isn’t monetary, but one of my summer jobs in college was as a tour guide at the zoo. We could enter before opening hours and I really enjoyed early mornings visiting with the walruses or the elephants, with no one else around. And if we made friends with the keepers, we could occasionally help with animal care, such as feeding the giraffes.

Health insurance is a big one. My husband had open heart surgury this summer, plus a fun ambulance ride/ER visit/re-admitance after he got home. It cost us a whole whopping $250 (our deductible) for a $100k bill. Did I mention the cost of my insurance is $40/month for my whole family? So amazing! Of the more fun perks, I got to go to sporting games in our company suite when I worked sales for a year. But I think the best perk is that I have an awesome job I LOVE!

Yes, I’ve worked retail and got amazing deals on clearance items. I have perks working for a University. My favorites are health insurance and plenty of paid time off. I’ve worked in I.T. on Campus for nearly 17 years now and I would never want to go back to private industry.

I work for the largest senior membership organization in the US. Along with great health insurance; up to 5 weeks of vacation/year; a month of time off after 7 years; sick, caregiving, bereavement, and community-building leave; and an enviable retirement plan, we also enjoy all benefits and discounts offered to our members. As an employee, I get life-time membership for free, too!

I have been a 911 dispatcher for 20 years now and can retire in 1019. I have stayed in this profession for so long because of retirement, health insurance, and paid leave (comp time, vacation, and sick leave). My dream has always been to be a stay at home/work from home mom. Make my own schedule and have more time for my family. If I choose to retire so soon I’ll still have insurance through my husband (he’s a firefighter for the same city).
Also we get blessed by citizens who want to show their support by cooking us dinner or bringing desserts by. So many shifts (because I have five kids and don’t always have enough lunch to bring for me) I and very grateful for the blessings.

I work for a large school. In addition to regular benefits, I get free lunch in the cafeteria every day (and it is GOOD), and there is a daycare on campus, which costs a bit less than other area day cares. I can also use the libraries on campus, including electronic collections.